


Nightmares and Night-Cares (PBG Hardcore)

by TheChocolateArmor



Category: NormalBoots, PBG Hardcore, PBG Hardcore series
Genre: Feels, Floof, Friendship, Gen, I'll be there for you, M/M, hugggzzzz, lolslimeded, other cuteness, pbg angst, slimelegion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 23:02:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14778962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheChocolateArmor/pseuds/TheChocolateArmor
Summary: Austin has a nightmare, and it takes a bit of love and friendship to comfort him. (Doesn't apply to any specific season of HC)





	Nightmares and Night-Cares (PBG Hardcore)

**Author's Note:**

> Another short story I wasn't able to post here for a long time. I guess this could count as shipping material for Peeb and Joof if you want, but it's certainly not intended to ship specifically. It depicts the two as best friends, but the romantic pairing is not forbidden. I hope you enjoy!

_“PBG look out!!”  
“I hear a zombie, he's walking near- AAAGGGHH!!!”_

_“Nooo! …. I’m fine…. NOOO!!”_

Austin tossed and turned in his sleep. 

“No…. No,” he mumbled in his sleep. “No……. Please…….. Please don't leave me…….”

_Shadowy flames danced around Austin's friends.  
They were all dying, right before his eyes._

_Jeff was reaching for him. Stewart was choking on something. Jared’s flesh was melting_

_“Austin run!”_

_“AAAAH!!!”_

_He tried to reach out to them- tried to take them and pull them to safety, but whenever he touched one of them, they would turn into dust._

_“Save us, save us!”_

_“Austin hurry! Save us!”_

_Monsters were quickly circling his friends, charging at them from the mist. Austin had no weapon, and his fist only went through the fiends._

_“I'm trying! Hold on!”, He cried._

_Something grabbed his arm. Looking behind him, he could see that a tall dark creature with glowing purple eyes had him in its grip. It pulled him closer to it, and he was unable to get free._

_“Save us Austin!”_

_“Save us!”_

_“I'm trying, I'm trying!”_

_“You're supposed to be the hero, Austin. Save us!”_

_“I…..I can't! I can't!”_

_Austin struggled, but his captor was slowly moving backward- slowly pulling him toward a pit of dark bubbling tar._

_“SAVE US!!”_

_The pit was coming closer._

_“SAVE US!!!!!”_

_Austin felt himself sinking into the tar. He struggled to get free, fighting with all the energy he had left, but he could not get out. He was too far gone._

_“WHY AREN’T YOU SAVING US!!”_

_“I- I’m stuck!! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!!”_

_“You couldn’t save anyone if you tried….”_

_The last thing Austin saw before the tar engulfed him was a pair of glowing eyes._

“AAAH!!”, he bolted upright, eyes wide. 

Panting, he looked around. 

There he was, in his own bed, in the cabin he and his friends had built only a few days ago. There was a faint light patch on the floor where the moon was shining in, but everything else was in shadow. There was no fire, no tar, no monsters. Everything around him was fine. Yet still, he held his head in his hands, trying to clear his thoughts. 

He felt awful.

Wiping beads of sweat from his forehead, he stood up after a minute, leaving his bed.

He took a chance to take a closer look at the bed next to him- that one belonged to his brother, Stewart. The one behind it was Dean’s, and on the other side of Austin were the beds of Jared, Jeff, Barry and……. Well.. no one. The guest, some guy who called himself Phoenix, had died not long after the team had built the place, having perished in a fateful accident involving llamas. Austin thought it was a stupid way to go, but thinking back to his previously concluded nightmare, he thought he’d seen at least two of the “Spitting Devils”, as Jared called them. No matter how silly it sounded, llamas could still be a threat. 

Relieved that all the people he actually cared about were still okay, Austin tried to calm down, but he just couldn’t. He found himself pacing back and forth, trying to keep quiet but simply unable to contain his emotions. His hands were shaking, his breaths were shivery, his hair was standing on end. 

After a minute or two, Austin tiptoed over to the window, tempted to open it and get some fresh air, but not wanting to expose his mates to the chilly outside world. Instead, he shakily took hold of the windowsill and looked out into the night.

Tears were already threatening to spill over his face, and he choked back a sob as he looked out. He was just in time to see the moon at its full height. The light illuminating it seemed to open up the sky, breaking through the clouds beyond.

It was beautiful- lavender fading into blue, and then grey. The faded colors streaked across the sky, making way for a perfect white crescent. But as wonderful as it was, Austin could not see it through the blurry streams that now filled his eyes.

He was about to leave the room, hoping to head outside from the door, but as he got up, he heard the muffled sounds of sheets turning- a mattress creaking as someone shifted under it. He jumped a little.

“Austin?”

It was Jeff, pale faced, tired looking, his glorious mass of fluffy hair twisted in all kinds of odd directions like a wild beast that just couldn’t be tamed. He was sitting up in bed, eyeing Austin with a bit of concern. 

“Oh sorry,” Austin muttered, still facing the window. “I didn't mean to wake you…”

“You didn't,” Jeff responded. “I can't sleep. I was just laying awake the whole time.”

“Oh…okay.”

He tried to inconspicuously hide his moist eyes behind his shaggy brown hair, but it was obvious that Jeff had noticed them. Surprisingly, the man did not call attention to this fact, instead remaining calm and relaxed, like a best friend should.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I heard you talking in your sleep…. Some of the things you said kinda freaked me out, if I’m going to be completely honest.”

“Don't worry about it. It was just a bad dream,” Austin mumbled.

“Oh,” Jeff nodded. “I hate bad dreams. That would definitely explain things…”

“Well, you know…. Some nights are worse than others.. “

“I-If you like, you could tell me about it. I always feel better when I can tell a friend about something that's getting me down.”

At first, Austin was silent. Part of him really didn’t want to tell Jeff about the dream, but he could tell from the tone of his friend’s voice that he would insist if he refused.

“W-Well,” Austin sighed. “I guess that might help… ”

Austin told him everything- the danger everyone was in, the way everyone expected him to be a hero, the fire, the monsters, the tar, the screams. He seemed to be getting more comfortable telling Jeff. Maybe this was helping him after all.

But still, he felt terrible.

 

“I couldn’t save you- any of you,” he muttered after finishing his tale. “I screwed it all up when everything depended on me..

But I keep wondering about it, and I keep thinking to myself: What if that happens in real life? What if I have to do something to help you guys- something that involves me not screwing up? 

What if I DO screw up, Jeff?!”

These last words came with a desperate worried gesture from his hands, which proceeded to fall limp to his sides as he looked down at his toes in defeat. He felt the tears coming on now, and they slowly dropped like bombs from his grey eyes. But he didn’t bother to wipe them away.

“Austin….”, Jeff stepped closer to him, and put an arm around his distressed friend. “Look at it this way. That was a dream. It was a mental picture created in your head and designed to keep you from doing anything. It also made us seem like selfish jerks who only cared about being saved. 

But this is real life!

Austin, even if something does come up where the pressure is on you, and it’s up to you to save one of us, and you end up failing… Do you really think we’ll get after you for that?”

Austin looked up at Jeff, eyes still glistening with tears. Jeff have him a reassuring smile, now looking at him directly.

“We all make mistakes around here. Some are stupid… Some end up confirming our ultimate loss…. Some are so dumb that you carry on for weeks afterward, wishing you hadn’t made that mistake,” Jeff’s cheeks turned quite red then, as if he was perhaps remembering an embarrassing failure of his own. “But that won’t change how we see you, Austin. That won't change what Barry or Stewart or Jared or Dean think about you, and it won't change what I think either.

We're always here for you. Always.”

Austin let another tear roll down his cheek, and he looked away, but Jeff could see that he was no longer tormented with worry. The tear was only a remnant of his pain- simply a drop of salty water now.

“Thanks,” he mumbled. “That helped a lot…”

“It's no problem,” Jeff nodded. He stepped back, about to head back to his own bed, but Austin suddenly grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. 

Surprised, Jeff went stiff at first, but as Austin held him closer, his body relaxed. Soon his own arms were around the other.

“P-Please don't go yet,” Austin muttered. “I-I don't think I'm ready to be alone again.”

“I-....”, Jeff didn't really know what to say to this at first. “I won't… I'll stay right here.”

Austin was comforted by this, and little by little, his breathing eased.

The embrace lasted ages, the tall Austin bending over as his friend reached up, gently rubbing his back. Yet it probably took only a few minutes. When Jeff finally let go, they both felt like old men. 

“Thanks Jeff,” Austin flushed a bit. “Sorry if that was a bit weird….”

“No, it's fine,” Jeff shrugged. “That's what friends are for, right?”

Austin nodded.

“Well,” Jeff yawned. “If you don't need anything else, I'm going to head back to bed. There's a long day ahead of us, you know.”

“Yeah… Gnight Jeff.”

“See you in the morning, Austin.”

Both of them climbed back into their beds, not speaking another word to each other. They felt like they didn't have to-There was nothing more to say.

But as Austin let his thoughts wander into faraway places, he thought to himself: 

_‘It sure is great to have a friend who listens..’_

With that, he drifted off to sleep.


End file.
